Will ounce of prevention be the best medicine?

April 21, 2006|Bob Ryan, Globe Columnist

It was a 6-4 homestand. Good? Disappointing? Too close to call?

With a fraction under 10 percent of the season in the books, there is one safe thing we can say about the 2006 edition of the Boston Red Sox: They have come exactly as advertised. We have no need to haul Theo Epstein in front of the Better Business Bureau, demanding refunds. This is the team he promised.

We were told the era of Home Run Derby would be over. We were told the Red Sox would henceforth be constructed on the ancient twin pillars of pitching and defense. We were told this team was no longer interested in bludgeoning teams into submission, that this year games would be won in a less flamboyant manner. All this is coming to pass. If you are addicted to offense, there's a team down in the Bronx on its way to scoring 1,000 runs. Perhaps you can pledge allegiance to it.

All this means there will be more than a few nights like Thursday, April 20, when the Red Sox were not much of a threat with bats in their hands against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and especially starter Scott Kazmir, who has attained full-fledged Red Sox killer status (standing tall, next to Ted Lilly). For the second time in five days, the Sox squandered a more-than-adequate performance by Tim Wakefield, whose record fell to 1-3 with this 5-1 loss but who quite clearly has pitched well enough to be 3-1.

''I thought he pitched great," said manager Terry Francona. ''It happens sometimes where you go through a little string or a little cycle where the club is not scoring runs for you. If he continues to throw like that, he is going to rack up a lot of wins."

The Red Sox have had a lot of well-pitched games. They have already won games by scores of 2-1 (twice) and 3-2. Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett are 7-0 between them, with ERAs in the ones. They have thrown the ol' leather around nicely, with Kevin Youkilis being a surprising defensive addition at first base. Alex Gonzalez has been routinely spectacular at short, not that anyone is surprised.

But the offense cannot continue like this if the Sox are going to be successful.

They need Coco Crisp back, and they are not going to have him until well into May. He will miss the nine-game road trip (Toronto, Cleveland, Tampa Bay) that begins tonight, and when that's over, he will be carefully brought back to the lineup on a step-by-step basis. So it's a combination of Willie Harris and Dustan Mohr in center field, and it's Youkilis leading off, and that's not what you want.

And then there's the mystery of Manny.